Hebrews 8:1-13

The singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, American kind of country rock, may not have heard of him.

He wrote a song called Maybe It's Time. You might have come across that song if you're not a Jason Isbell fan in the film.

A Star is Born when Bradley Cooper sang it. Eddie Vedder, formerly of Pearl Jam, he does a nice version as well by the way.

It's on YouTube. But this song, Maybe It's Time, reflects on how hard it is to change your life for the better in your own strength.

How difficult it is to actually make changes in your life so that things move in a more positive direction.

Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. It takes a lot to change a man. It takes a lot to try.

Maybe it's time to let the old ways die.

The lyrics speak about how simplistic some people's view of life is.

And it is actually especially dismissive of the Christian faith that I think probably Jason Isbell grew up with.

But that repeated line, Maybe it's time to let the old ways die, could be the theme tune of the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews. The first hearers of the book were looking back to the old ways, to their old religion, their old forms of worship, their old covenant structures, and they wanted to go back.

And the writer's message is, Maybe it's time to let the old ways die.

Well, actually, more accurately, there's no maybe about it.

But it's time to let the old ways die.

The old VHS religion, if you were here last week, has to die, he's saying.

And the reason is, the reason why the old ways need to die is because Jesus is better.

Way better.

And this evening of chapter 8, we move into a new section of the book where that word, better, is going to come up again and again.

And chapter 8 tells us specifically that he is a better priest who mediates a better covenant.

That's what we're looking at this evening.

He's a better priest who mediates a better covenant.

Now, why is that relevant?

Well, let's go to our first point.

Jesus is a better priest, and the author tells us, because he works in heaven.

That's verses 1 to 5.

Do you notice in those first five verses, the author is fixated on Jesus' location?

Now, the point of what we're saying is this.

We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven,

a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

Now, we labored through chapter 7 through Melchizedek last week, and verse 1 tells us,

here's the point of what we've just been saying.

Here's the point.

You want to know what the point of the Melchizedek chapter is?

For all of its kind of complexity and confusion, here's the point.

We have the great high priest that we need who will fit us for God's presence.

Now, we've seen again and again in this section that the author keeps quoting Psalm 110 with the invitation there for the Lord to sit at my right hand.

The Lord says to the Lord, God the Father to God the Son, to take his seat in that position of authority and rule.

And here in chapter 8, we're told that this has taken place.

He has done this.

We have such a high priest, one who has taken his seat at the right hand of the majesty.

And where is that majestic one?

In heaven.

Verse 2, Jesus and minister.

Where?

In the holy places.

In the true tabernacle of God.

Back in chapter 4, we're told we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens.

In chapter 6, we see Jesus as our forerunner who has entered the inner place behind the curtain as the high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

And last week, we saw chapter 7, verse 25, he is exalted above the heavens, above the skies.

Where is Jesus now?

Where is he now?

As we gather here, he's in heaven.

He is ministering as our priest in the very presence of God.

Earthly high priests.

They were appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices on behalf of their people.

Verse 3, Jesus as our priest after Melchizedek.

Has offered himself as our sacrifice.

We'll say more on that, Lord willing, next week.

But this is why he sits down at the right hand of the Father.

His sacrificial offering has dealt with every sin.

His work of atonement has been completed.

When he cried out, it is finished.

From the cross, it was.

And so he sits down.

But his ministry is also one of intercession.

7.25 again.

He ever lives to intercede for us.

He is mediating between us and the Father.

It's like he applies in heaven the ongoing effectiveness of his once-for-all sacrifice,

day after day, before the Father.

When we sin, he steps in as our advocate.

It's almost as if you can imagine he goes,

Father, I have dealt with their sin.

When we call out to our Father, think of those times when you're confused,

when you're trying to pray and you're confused,

or you find yourself rambling,

or you find yourself not really able to say the things that you need to say,

or even not able to say anything.

Sometimes we're so heartbroken that we sit down to pray.

Sometimes life is so complicated that we go to God and we can't say anything.

Well, when we call out to our Father,

or when we come into his presence in silence,

the Lord Jesus perfects those prayers,

the longings of our heart as they are directed to him,

and those are heard in the very throne room of heaven.

Through our union with Christ,

that's what the New Testament tells us again and again.

We put our faith in Christ, we are united to him.

And through that union,

our communion with God has a heavenly aspect.

We experience it here in the day-to-day,

down here in the grit and the grime of life on earth,

life in London,

but it has a real expression in heaven.

Because our priest is in heaven representing us there.

And we'll hear more on that, as I say, hopefully in coming weeks,

but this also especially means that there is a sense in which,

through the Spirit, we are gathered now in the presence of heaven.

As I say, we'll hear more of that later.

But that heavenly aspect of our priest's work,

it's so important.

This is what he is developing here, the author, at the beginning.

This is what Christ's priestly work means,

here and now.

But why is that better?

Why is that better than the old order of things?

You're not asking that question?

I'm asking that question.

So he's in heaven.

All right, so what?

Well, it's better because the author tells us

that Christ's ministry there in heaven is reality.

Look at verse 5.

The old priests, they serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.

For when Moses was about to erect the tent,

he was instructed by God, saying,

See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

Moses, you remember,

Moses was given the pattern for the tabernacle and for the priesthood,

based on what God had shown him on the mountain.

He had been given, we're told, in Exodus 25 to 30,

a pattern to follow.

And the construction that was built,

the priesthood that was instituted,

were based on the heavenly reality.

The earthly priesthood, in one sense,

you look around and the earthly priesthood looks very real.

However, it was a copy.

Think of it like an artist's sketch of a building.

That sketch is the building, in a sense.

And depending on the artist's talent, it might look impressive.

When you go to an art gallery and look at a drawing or a portrait,

it could be stunningly good.

But it's still only a copy of the real thing.

The real thing is somewhere else.

And the earthly priesthood was also a shadow.

Now, we know there is no such thing as a shadow

without the substance to create the shadow.

If I put my hand kind of here,

I can see a shadow on the lectern.

The light is there.

But there's a reality that creates the shadow.

The shadow isn't the real thing,

but it is connected to the real thing.

So the old priesthood, the old priesthood was not the real thing.

But like a shadow points to the existence of the substance,

its existence pointed to something real that cast the shadow.

And that reality is Christ and His priestly work in heaven.

Now, with this, the implication is obvious.

Now that we have the reality,

there's no need for the copy.

When the building has been built, there's no need for the drawing.

No one stands in a new building and pours over the architect's drawing.

Don't worry about that.

Look at the drawing.

No one experiences the reality of something and says,

Oh, I wish the shadow of that reality was still here.

That is why Christ is a better priest.

In contrast to the limits of earthly priests,

He ministers in the reality of heaven,

in the true tabernacle,

in the presence of God.

And this is why Jesus is the priest that we all need.

Any form of religion or philosophy

that is entirely focused in the here and now

may have some temporal benefits.

There may be things that an earthly religion

can do for you in terms of creating discipline in your life,

in terms of creating a community

that you can be part of.

And there are temporal benefits for that.

But it is always going to have limits

because it doesn't penetrate to the reality of heaven.

We live in a world where there is a reality above us

and that is the reality of heaven.

The phrase you sometimes hear,

they're so heavenly minded that they're no earthly use.

You've heard it.

You may have even used it.

It is something that people say to describe often a Christian

who is usually a bit naive and a bit out of touch

with the experiences of life down here

in the real world where we live.

The truth is,

if you are genuinely heavenly minded,

you are engaged in the real world.

Because that's where real business is done with God

and it is there and only there

where the real issues of life,

the universe, and everything are resolved.

Jesus is the better priest

because he works in heaven.

But it doesn't stop there.

His ministry is linked to the covenant

that God has made with his people.

So as the better priest,

he also mediates,

point number two,

a better covenant.

Because he works in us.

It's our second point.

He mediates a better covenant

because he works in us.

Verse six,

for if that first covenant had been faultless,

there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

For he finds fault with them when he says,

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will establish a new covenant

with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers

on the day when I took them by the hand

to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

For they did not continue in my covenant,

and so I showed no concern for them,

declares the Lord.

The Lord found fault with the old covenant.

The old system had a flaw.

Not that there was a problem with his law

or what that law pointed to.

The flaw wasn't in the covenant as such,

but in the people.

Do you see?

For he finds fault with them.

Verse eight,

the fault was on the people's side of the covenant

because they were unable to keep its requirements.

But the prophet Jeremiah promised many years earlier

that the days were coming.

Days that when the author is writing this,

that have now come in these last days.

Chapter one,

where the shadow covenant will give way

to a real heavenly covenant

which is founded on better promises.

And these are better because they are promises

that actually deal with us.

They're better because they take our sin into account.

Indeed, they are promises

that overcome our sinfulness.

How is that the case?

Well, in the new covenant,

God gets to work inside us.

Verse 10, do you see?

For this is the covenant

I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put my law into their minds

and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

Under the old covenant,

the law was written on tablets of stone

out there externally.

In the new,

it is etched on hearts.

It is etched on minds

and written on hearts.

It's common to hear people say

that the old covenant

was all about what a person did.

All ritual and external practices.

Whereas in the new,

it's all about the internal,

what God does in you

and how you respond.

But the truth is

that God has always cared more

about the heart

behind the actions of his people

than he has the actions

for their own sake.

Sincere faith has always been

a matter of the heart.

That's not a point of difference.

But in the eyes of the author of Hebrews,

the old covenant was unable

to adequately accomplish

this heart transformation.

Luke Timothy Johnson

in his commentary says this,

What is needed is the participation

of God's Son

on the side of humans

as their anchor of hope

and pledge of the covenant.

What is different

is not the desired end,

but the divine agency

to accomplish that end.

What he's saying is this,

the obedience from the heart

which was expected

under the old covenant

is accomplished by God

in the new.

In the new covenant,

we have the promise

of God's work in us

by his Spirit

to transform our minds

and hearts

and to draw us

into relationship with him.

I will be their God

and they shall be my people.

That is the covenantal pledge

that God makes

all the way through

the Old Testament.

But now,

the ability for us

to keep the terms

of the covenant

is granted

through the new hearts

and the transformed minds

that God himself

has given.

the relationship

that we were created for

is now possible

because God gives us

a new heart

to love and serve him.

You cannot obey God

apart from this internal work.

But here's the thing.

When you turn from your sin

and put your faith in Christ,

this is what he does for us.

He transforms us

from the inside.

Do you know that

you can really know God?

You can really know him.

All of the striving

and all of the effort

of those who think

that religion is a good idea

is an attempt to connect

with reality in some way.

Everybody that you see

that is devoted to religion

in some way or other

is trying to connect

with reality in some way

to find real answers

to the problems of life.

All of the rejection of God

that came with secularism

is just another way

of searching for truth

and meaning

in this world

that we live in.

People reject the idea

of God

because they think

he is a fantasy

or an irrelevance.

But the promise

of the new covenant

is that you can know

the God who created

all that we have and see.

You can know the God

who defines reality.

You can really,

and have a look,

verse 11,

personally know him.

And they shall teach

each one his neighbor

and each one his brother

saying,

Know the Lord

for they shall all know me

from the least of them

to the greatest.

Old Israel

knew God

in contrast

to the other nations

who were described

as not following him,

not knowing him.

But this was a limited knowledge

and it was a knowledge

that they could lose

in the sense

that Hosea could say

of the people

in his day

that,

Hosea 4, verse 1,

Hosea 4:1

there was no knowledge

of God in the land.

But to know God,

we talk about

knowing God,

that is to recognize him,

to trust him,

and obey him.

And the point here

is that under

the new covenant,

God's people are enabled

to do this

by God himself.

New covenant believers

have a direct

and personal knowledge

of him.

It's not just kings

that have that access.

It's not just judges

that have that access.

And it's not just

for a time either

as we saw

under the old covenant,

but from the least

to the greatest,

every man,

woman,

boy,

or girl

who puts their faith

in Christ,

the better priest,

is drawn into

this relationship.

Do you hear that,

boys and girls,

this evening?

That applies to you.

If you put your faith

in Christ,

the better priest,

you're drawn into

a relationship

with the living God.

You can know him

and you can know him

personally.

The question is,

how is this possible?

How can sinful,

rebellious people

become children of God?

How can we know

and trust

and be in relationship

with a holy God?

Well, it's because

of what Jeremiah says

in the climax

of this promise.

Look at verse 12.

Here it is.

How is it possible?

For I will be merciful

towards their iniquities

and I will remember

their sins

no more.

This pronouncement

is repeated again

in chapter 10,

verse 17.

It is the basis

on which

all that is held out

to us,

that is a new heart,

a personal relationship

with God,

an immediate relationship

with God,

all of that is possible.

The mercy of God

in forgiveness

is the reason why.

The mercy of God

to you

in forgiveness

for your sins.

He sees our sin

and He covers it.

Again,

forgiveness was present

under the old covenant,

but not like this.

Not like this.

In the new covenant,

forgiveness is both

personal

and universal.

That is,

it is for every individual

who knows the Lord

and it covers

every sin

of those

who receive

the new heart

that Christ's ministry gives.

Just look.

Just look at the extent

of this mercy.

He remembers

our sin

no more.

Think of even

the last few sins

that you've committed.

Even the last few,

never mind everyone.

Christ has taken them away

and God has no recollection

of them.

Does this mean

He has amnesia?

Is God forgetful?

No.

So there is a plea

that is repeated

a number of places

in the Old Testament.

Psalm 25,

6 and 7.

Remember your mercy,

O Lord,

and your steadfast love,

for they have been

from of old.

Remember not

the sins of my youth

or my transgressions

according to your steadfast love.

Remember me

for the sake

of your goodness,

O Lord.

That's the plea

and Jeremiah's

new covenant promises

that God is going

to grant that request.

God won't remember

your sin

but He will remember you.

In Christ's new covenant

it really is a case

of God forgiving

and forgetting.

He won't remember

your sin

but He will remember you.

What a relief.

What a relief.

How many of you

are all twisted up

out of shape,

antsy,

uncomfortable,

describe it how you will,

because of guilt?

You feel guilt

and shame

about things

that you've done

and whatever you've tried

to do,

those things,

that sense of guilt

and shame

clings to you

the way food smells

in a greasy cafe

cling to you.

You just can't seem

to shake them off.

I know for some of you

it's almost like

you can't remember

what it feels like

to enjoy yourself.

You've forgotten

what freedom feels like.

Well,

here's the promise

that will lift

your burden.

The mercy of God

is for you.

And just as He remembers

your sin no more,

so you must take Him

at His word

and leave it behind.

Sometimes I hear people say,

look,

I know God forgives me,

I just can't forgive myself.

And they remain stuck

in their misery.

Well,

in that case,

what that person

is really saying is,

I don't really believe

that God can forgive me.

If that's you,

can I say,

it's time for you

to take God

at His word.

If you have put

your faith in Christ,

your sin has been dealt with.

Every last one.

All of it.

And God is not like us.

When we've been wronged,

we love to hold it

against others.

We love to keep

that thing in mind

and hold it over them again.

Gives us a bit of a power

over them.

When we've been wronged,

we cannot let it go

and we can hold it over others

and we can tut

and shake our heads

and say,

well,

there you go again.

God is not like that.

When God forgives us,

the matter is finished

and we are reconciled.

He won't bring it up again.

What a relief.

What a relief.

Isn't that an astonishing thing?

If you have put your faith in Christ,

every single sin

has been dealt with.

But in closing,

I want to be clear.

This liberty,

this joy,

this relief

is only on offer

to people who see their need.

Every other religion

or philosophy in the world

tells us what we need to do

in order to fix our lives ourselves.

Christianity is only for those

who see that they can't fix

their lives themselves.

It is only for those

who admit that we've made

a mess of things

and we have no plea before God

except our great high priest,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

We've made a terrible mess of things

and we do not have what it takes.

We don't have the wisdom.

We don't have the influence.

We don't have the money.

We don't have the ability.

Whatever it is,

we can't sort our lives out ourselves.

If you think that you're okay,

there is nothing for you here.

But if you know you need

the mercy of God,

come on in.

Jesus Christ flings wide

the doors of His mercy for you.

He has died

and been raised

to deal with all of your sin

and He will take it off your shoulders.

He will take it off your conscience.

He will take it off your record

before God

and He'll welcome you

into His family.

So can you see?

Can you see why it's better?

Why we need to let the old ways die.

Whether it is old forms of religion

or it is any other kind of thing

that might be drawing us away from Christ,

there is nothing else

because nothing else

can penetrate to the reality of heaven,

can do business with the living God

on our behalf.

and nothing else gets to work inside us

but the high priestly ministry of Jesus

by His Holy Spirit.

Leave your sin

at the foot of the cross.

Leave it there

and don't think about it again.

Let the old ways die.

Come and welcome to Christ.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.